Ephesians

What we live for matters. More specifically, who we live for matters. One day, each of us will die. We’ll face our Creator and be asked to give an account for our lives. We’ll have to answer the question of who and what we lived for. Make no mistake, Jesus already knows the answer to the question before you open your mouth. The truth is, we all know the answer today, and that should scare some of us to death. Life is not about being a “good” person or doing “good” deeds. Life is about God. Period.

How closely our lives resemble that of Christ’s life has huge implications for where we will spend eternity. Don’t miss this. Don’t stop reading because you’ve heard this before. There is nothing more important at this moment than making certain you are living a life worthy of your calling (Ephesians 4:1-2).

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been haunted by an old Geoff More lyric. It’s from the song, “God Believes in You”, and says, “Everything matters if anything matters at all / No matter how big, no matter how small”. The implications of the lyric torture me. I think we would all agree some things matter, particularly when it comes to knowing Christ. Knowing some things matter, I am compelled by Scripture to believe everything matters.

Every word I speak, every thought I think, everything at which my eyes look, every interaction I have with people, how I spend every moment – they all matter. They all will be either for the Kingdom or against it. They all will be either pleasing or displeasing to my Lord.

In “Jesus and the Disinherited”, Howard Thurman wrote, “…the most important question, since the thing which makes Him [Jesus] most significant is not the way in which He resembled his fellows but the way in which He differed from all the rest of them. Jesus inherited the same traits as countless other Jews of his time; he grew up in the same society; and yet he was Jesus, and the others were not.”

Sure, Jesus was the Son of God, but He also came to earth as a fully human man. He was free to choose however He wanted. His desire and love for God necessitated He make choices we do not have to contemplate, and He chose the right way every time. What if we possessed such love and devotion for the Father? What if we could do nothing but please Him?

Be careful! When you surrender your life completely to Christ, expect Him to give you some God-sized goals and work to do. The brilliant part of this plan is our God-sized God can accomplish all the God-sized goals he conceives. The fact He would engage people such as you or me to accomplish His work is beyond all reason, wonder, and logic. Yet, it’s what He does. God invites us to partner with Him in His mission for all humanity.

Our role is to be surrendered, committed, and obedient. We only need to do what He tells us to do. Even when things look impossible, we simply must have the faith to believe it will be accomplished. That’s God’s role in our partnership. He gives us the dream and the abilities to see the dream to fruition. Whatever we lack, He Himself will supply.

During some recent study, I was struck with a concept I had inexplicably never considered before. While I talk a lot about stewarding our resources of money and time, I had never considered stewarding the resources of our words. As a writer, the thought struck me deeply. I see words as being an incredibly powerful resource we can use to further God’s Kingdom or to tear it down.

Actions indeed speak louder than words, but words can change minds, influence change, and impact the world in ways that little else can. Yet, how much thought do you give towards stewarding your words each day? How often do you intentionally measure your speech to be certain each word you speak makes the greatest impact for the Kingdom of God?